New life for Church Relic

Hope Mehaffey has been playing the organ at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brockton for 48 years, but what shes playing now is heavenly music to her ears.
The Main Street church recently restored its 40-year-old organ to the tune of $300,000.
Its brighter. Its a very brilliant instrument, it always has been, but now, its absolutely magnificent, said Mehaffey, 74, who has also been the churchs choir director for nearly five decades.

The church first dedicated the organ in 1968, after it was built by the venerable Schantz Organ Co. in Orrville, Ohio. The cost at the time was $42,500.
But over the years, the towering organ built of oak with 2,041 pipes made of tin, lead and wood — which wraps around the church altar and high up to the ceiling — succumbed to wear and tear and was in need of drastic help.
We decided to have a major restoration by having the entire instrument rebuilt and upgraded to the most recent organ technology, said Jim Benson, church administrator.
Last May, representatives from the Schantz Organ Co. dismantled the organ and brought it to Ohio for restoration. For several months, the church got by using a smaller organ from its chapel.

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